Grandmother guided dying schoolgirl to recite syahadah

BATU PAHAT: A Form Four student who was found severely injured at a secondary school in Yong Peng here yesterday managed to raise her hand and turn towards her grandmother before losing consciousness.

Irene Sofiya Mohd Khairol Faisal, 16, fondly known as Fiya, was found in the school hall with severe injuries, believed to have been inflicted with a hard object.

Her grandmother, Jameyah Rabani, 65, said Fiya's friend found her in a pool of blood and called for her to enter the hall.

"I ran there and saw her in a heartbreaking condition.

"Fiya could no longer speak, but she responded by raising her hand and turning to look at me.

"I hugged Fiya and taught her to recite the syahadah," she said when met at her home in Kampung Parit Selamat, Yong Peng, today.

Jameyah said she began to fear that Fiya had died when her granddaughter failed to respond despite being called by name several times.

She said before Fiya was found, two of her friends had gone to her house to ask whether she had returned home after they found her motorcycle inside the school compound.

"Yesterday, Fiya attended an extra class from 2pm to about 5pm.

"Her friends came to ask whether she had returned home. I told them she had not.

"I became worried and asked my daughter (Siti Nur Faeza Khyar, 45), and Fiya's friends to look for her around the school.

"We searched for some time but could not find her until one of her friends screamed and told me she had found Fiya covered in blood," she said.

Jameyah said she had invited Fiya to attend a wedding ceremony yesterday morning, but her granddaughter declined as she had an online extra class at 11am and another class at school at 2pm.

"I accept what has happened, but I am deeply saddened. We have lost her. My husband and I raised her from the age of nine after her mother died of cancer," she said.

Meanwhile, Fiya's grandfather, Khyar Abas, 69, said he never expected their conversation over breakfast that morning to be their final meeting.

He said he and his aunt, who had come from Kluang, had waited for Fiya to go out for a meal, but she never returned from school.

"We lived together, just the three of us. She was never a source of worry and was a diligent student," he said.